The relationship between good drink and social spirit is clear to just about anyone who has ever attended a worthwhile gathering. Whether at a casual picnic or a formal banquet, the good host knows the irreplaceable value of libation in bringing people closer together. Perhaps less obvious, but no less important, is the role that togetherness plays with creating our favorite of all amenities: Craft Beer. Visit a brewery, if you haven’t already, and see for yourself. Brewers, pub owners, and fans from all over San Diego and beyond appear to feel an affinity for one another, and if there’s a sense of competition it comes from dedication to excellence rather than domination. It is in celebration of this community spirit and the fruits of our collective loves and labors that Stone has teamed up with Jolly Pumpkin and Nøgne-Ø to create the first Holiday beer ever to come from our brew house.
Kjetil, Mitch, Ron, and Greg
Our tale begins this past march in a bar in Tokyo, where our own Greg Koch had a chance encounter with Kjetil Jikiun, the owner and head brewer of Norwegian craft brewery (the name translates to Naked Island.) The two hit it off, and when they met again at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, Greg managed to wrangle an invitation to visit Kjetil’s brewery. Greg had a blast in Norway and formed a friendship that soon gave rise to a desire for some kind of collaboration. Greg suggested teaming up with the adventurous Michigan brewery Jolly Pumpkin (specifically, with head brewer and haiku master Ron Jefferies,) and the Triad was thusly formed.
Our head brewer Mitch Steele found some time to fill me in on his part of the story. He grinned while relating his experience with Kjetil (friendly, open, excellent language skills) and Ron (more reserved, always eager to experiment)
“We knew [this beer] would take a long time to plan… because we had to do it with E-mailâ€
Not too long ago Stone collaborated with Mikeller and Alesmith to create a Belgian Trippel style ale, but this time there would be no set style, and, therefore, no guidelines to follow. Designing a beer from the ground up is no simple matter, and having three designers in three different time zones doesn’t make it any easier. It does, however, make for an interesting brew. Here’s an excerpt from what Mitch wrote for the back of the bottle:
“We quickly decided to try and use one indigenous ingredient from each of our brewing regions, Southern California White Sage, Juniper Berries (we couldn’t get Norwegian, unfortunately, so we used Italian Juniper Berries, at least they are from the same continent), and (mostly) Michigan Chestnuts. Kjetil suggested brewing with rye malt and Ron suggested adding some caraway to complement the rye, so we decided to brew a full bodied, spiced ale with 25% rye malt.â€
Mitch, Stone Brewer Tom Garcia, Ron, Greg, & Kjetil: The deliberation process...
Two test batches were cooked up in advance for sampling and adjustments the afternoon before Brew day. After comparing notes and coming to a consensus, Mitch, Ron, and Kjetil joined an informal dinner in the Bistro where some Team Stone crew, local fans, and home brewers were able to try both beers and get to share beers and food with the brew masters. Guests were encouraged to bring their own creations along with beers from the guest breweries to share, which they did! Greg pulled out a generous amount from his Nøgne-Ø stash that he had brought back from his trip and everyone was glad to share in it.
The next day saw no lack of community spirit as celebration gave way to shared efforts and hardships. Rye malt is notoriously difficult to work with. Mitch continued to smile while he described how one stage of the process became (almost) hopelessly stuck. “Ordinarily two batches would take about thirteen hours. These two took more than thirty… They wouldn’t lauter… We tried every trick I knew of.†Another Stone Brewer, Jeremy Moynier, had the honor of being called in at 3am to participate in the debacle. He relates:
Ron, Jeremy & Kjetil prepare the sage
“seriously, although it was a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong day, the spices, chestnuts, and sage that we added made the brew fun to do and it was also very cool talking to those guys. It’s always fun and educational to talk to other brewers. Tasting the beers during fermentation and recently in taste panel….very impressive. These came out complex and the spices are intriguing (it’s amazing how just a little sage goes a long way). I think people will dig this beer!â€
I think so, too. I was lucky enough to sample this unique brew right out of our filter, and though not yet fully carbonated it blew me away. I wouldn’t want to taint your expectations with my own humble impression, suffice to say the elements all really came together on this one.
Wow!
Our production crew has been awaiting a shipment of glass so they can start bottling, and I heard the machinery spring into action as I finished up these last few sentences. We’ll be rushing bottles to the Stone Company Store cooler, and you’ll be able to stop by and pick some up on Friday, November 21st (that’s tomorrow!) and we’ll be distributing limited amounts to AZ, MA, CA, OH, WA, OR, CO, VA, MI and NY on Monday. Happy Holidays, indeed!
One last note: I’ve been informed that we’re still awaiting formal approval to distribute this beer in Washington and Virginia. We expect to get it any day now, so hopefully folks in these states will be able to get some within the next few weeks.
- Matt Steirnagle
Related Links:
Greg’s vBlog from his trip to Norway
Photo gallery of Ron and Kjetil’s visit
We got some great video and photos of the bottling run
Full sized bottle designs with text from all three brewers
http://www.jollypumpkin.com
http://www.nogne-o.com/
Mark HallWhat about Maine? Don’t forget about us!
Mark Hall
Southern Maine Beer Supervisor
Central Distributors, Inc.
Comment | November 20, 2008
JakeWill this be shipped to NJ at all?
Comment | November 20, 2008
I pray we are able to enjoy the fruits of your collaboration . As Sales Manager I know that anything Stone will move quickly, as we are the #1 pimp for Stone ales in southwest Ohio.
Comment | November 20, 2008
JohnI know we’d kill for this stuff at my store in MD, we sell the hell out of Stone products.
Comment | November 21, 2008
I can’t wait to order some of this for my place at U of Cincinnati. We already have some Double Bastard and Ron’s Noel de Calabaza making up part of our winter brew selection. This one will be a treat to offer up to the students and faculty stopping by for a beer. Hopefully Cavalier gets plenty to spread around the area.
Cheers!
Adam
Manager, Catskeller
Comment | November 21, 2008
Karl StrausAll this reading i still don;t see what the beer is supposed to taste like?
Comment | November 21, 2008
I’m sad to see there will be none in Maryland!
Comment | November 22, 2008
Hey Greg & the rest of the Stone Crew…
How many Arrogant Bastard converts do I need to turn to get my hands on a few bottles here in NJ?? I have space for them in the beer fridge right next to the Nogne O Peculiar Yule and Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire!!
Consider this a beg…. trust me, I’m typing on two knees here….
Cheers!
Joel
The Alemonger
http://www.alemonger.wordpress.com
Comment | November 22, 2008
[...] For the full story on the ale’s creation from start to finish, visit THE STONE BLOG. [...]
Pingback | November 23, 2008
PhilJust cracked open a bottle of this brew, and I must say, well done! Just what I would imagined a Stone holiday ale would taste like.
Comment | November 24, 2008
This is a fantastic brew. Had a pour at the Linkery tonight with dinner. Easily one of the best winter warmers I’ve had.
Comment | December 3, 2008
Nathan HoffmanI am a huge fan of all stone products but I live in Boise Idaho and we don’t have a real selection of your beers. Are we going to be able to get more of the good beer that I crave every day? If so where do I go?
Comment | December 15, 2008
LerxstI just scored a bottle of this today and couldn’t wait to try it. All I can say is “Wow!”. Now this is the way to brew a spiced holiday beer! Definitely best when not served too cold. A snifter works nicely. Huge, complex, and delicious. And the color is gorgeous! I’ll be running back to buy more before they run out!
Comment | December 16, 2008
Hey Nathan, thanks for your interest! You can click the “USA Areas of Distribution” link under the “Find Stone” section of our main page and click on your state, or just follow this link: http://www.stonebrew.com/about_us/distributors/#ID John Kevo, our Pacific Northwest Regional Sales Manager, is available to assist you in your quest for Stone beer. Good luck!
Comment | December 17, 2008
[...] Between Team Stone and Stone Fans, we filled three big buckets past the top as of last week. The third bucket was one was sitting in our office hall spilling over on the floor this morning with the fourth bucket barely filled in the Stone Company Store. Matt Steele called the good folks at the North County Food Bank to come and pick up the third bucket, and they were excited by the “beautiful!” news. Well, they’ll get the sweet surprise of having to lug away twice what they were expecting! That’s right, over the past six hours Stone Fans filled the fourth bucket, which means Erick Gordon in the store just put on a keg of Alesmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple Ale. [...]
Pingback | December 23, 2008
DavidJust had a bottle of Special Holiday Ale. Amazing, never have tasted something so intriguing and mysterious! I got one of the last 5 bottles at our local in Colorado. Awesome stuff. My favorite beer is Franzischkaner’s Hefe-Weisse Dunkel but now I have to add the Special Holiday Ale to the top of the list. A job well done.
Comment | December 23, 2008
Fishy PeteThis stuff is awesome..Had a bottle at the Pub here in Michigan and want more.. How do I buy this brew?
Comment | December 25, 2008
MickWe had this at our local beer club on 12/26 here in Michigan. Wow, nicely done! It defiantely had a holiday flavor to it, almost like a pine tree note in the nose. I grabbed a couple bottles off the shelf to cellar for a while.
Comment | December 27, 2008
Dave MaloneAmazing. I love the sage in this beer.
Comment | January 8, 2009
BrianI just tasted this brew a few days ago…simply amazing. I hope to find this in the stores soon!
Comment | January 9, 2009
[...] I really have no idea how to describe today’s beer. For the full story, be sure to read the tale of collaboration posted at The Stone Blog. [...]
Pingback | January 14, 2009
[...] What the company says: You can read all about the process for this beer from start to finish here http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=249 ABV%: 9.0% Other beers to try from these breweries:Stone IPA, Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon 2.0, Jolly [...]
Pingback | January 22, 2009
I am very sorry for all those far away from here. I live within bicycle distance and enjoy the brew frequently!
Comment | January 25, 2009
[...] the company says: You can read all about the process for this beer from start to finish here http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=249ABV%: 9.0%Other beers to try from these breweries:Stone IPA, N?gne ? Dark Horizon 2.0, Jolly Pumpkin [...]
Pingback | January 28, 2009
KenAmazing beer. I hope you decide to keep the production going and brew it for ’10 and beyond.
Comment | March 2, 2009
wholesale distributors…
Thanks for sharing the information. 
…
Trackback | March 11, 2009
[...] I got my hands on Stone’s/Nøgne-Ø’s/Jolly Pumpkin’s special holiday ale and I am glad that I did. This is a pretty mellow beer that tastes great. Admittedly I was a little [...]
Pingback | March 14, 2009
[...] Just like last time, to further honor the spirit of collaboration, we’re hosting a meet the brewmasters event at the Bistro on March 26th—the night before they brew the collaboration beer. It will be a very casual meet and greet event where you can grab dinner and a beer with James, Will, and Mitch, talk some shop, and share a homebrew or two. You’ll even get to taste the pilot batch of the collaboration beer and let the brewmasters know what you think. [...]
Pingback | March 18, 2009
John BirkremMy favorite California brewery teaming up with my favorite Norse brewery, oh what heaven!!!!! I am sorry I missed seeing this collaboration earlier. Excellent international relations I love it.
Comment | March 23, 2009
[...] may remember a tasty little beer with a long name (no surprise there) that was brewed here with Ron Jefferies of Jolly Pumpkin and Kjetil Jikiun of [...]
Pingback | April 24, 2009
[...] to Norway on July 27th, where he’ll be joined by Steve and Mitch to brew the final iteration of Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale with Kjetil Jikiun at Nøgne-ø (check out Greg’s last visit to Norway). The second, [...]
Pingback | July 24, 2009
[...] For the full story on the ale’s creation from start to finish, visit THE STONE BLOG. [...]
Pingback | September 5, 2009
I’ll have another lager, please.
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signature: order crestor
Comment | September 16, 2009
[...] Dog, Mikkeller, and Ale Smith and bringing their unprecedented technical knowledge to table. For Special Holiday Ale (now in its second vintage) they’ve teamed up with the sour beer loving jokers over at Jolly [...]
Pingback | December 23, 2009
[...] So why the collaboration? It was only with a bit of digging that I was able to uncover the story of chance meetings at a Tokyo bar, extended email exchanges about recipe formulation, and [...]
Pingback | February 15, 2010
I have been looking around blog.stonebrew.com and really am impressed by the awesome content here. I work the nightshift at my job and it really gets boring. I’ve been coming here for the past couple nights and reading. I just needed to let you know that I’ve been enjoying what I have seen and I look ahead to reading more.
Comment | May 31, 2010
We had this at our local beer association on 12/26 here in Chicago. Wow, nicely done! It defiantely had a leisure savor to it, nigh equivalent a pine tree tone in the poke. I grabbed a match bottles off the shelf to story for a piece.
polo
Comment | June 15, 2010
[...] You can read more about the collaboration on Stone’s blog. [...]
Pingback | March 16, 2011
[...] Special Holiday Ale [...]
Pingback | August 16, 2011
[...] [...]
Pingback | October 11, 2011
